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Saturday, September 26, 2009

Please Teacher! (おねがい☆ティーチャー, Onegai Tīchā?, Onegai ☆ Teacher), is a Japanese anime series, directed by Yasunori Ide and written by Yōsuke Kuroda, and produced by Bandai Visual, which was adapted into a manga and light novel, centering around a group of friends and the odd things that happen to them after they get a new teacher.The Please Teacher! anime series premiered in Japan on the WOWOW satellite television network between January 10 and March 28, 2002, spanning a total of 13 episodes, including twelve originally premiering on television plus an OVA episode released on DVD on October 25, 2002. It was adapted very soon into a manga, serialized in MediaWorks's shōnen manga magazine, Dengeki Daioh, in January 2002, and was also later adapted into a light novel, entitled Onegai Teacher: Mizuho and Kei's Milky Diary, published in March 2003.The Please Teacher! anime series was soon continued with a spin-off sequel, Please Twins!, which premiered on WOWOW between July 15 and October 14, 2003.The setting of the series, though left unsaid in either anime or manga, is Lake Kizaki, located in Nagano, Japan, and the region and its surrounding locations are featured prominently and accurately across the series. The novel states that the school the characters attend is the Nagano Prefectural Kizaki High School. This school is based upon the Old Matsumoto High School located in Agatanomori Park of Matsumoto-shi, about an hour south of Lake Kizaki on the JR Ōito Line. The tower of which Kaede and Hyosuke stand upon can be found in Joyama Park on the northwest part of the city. It happens some time in the future after 2009.

Please Teacher! is a story mainly revolving around a tight-knit group of friends in high school and how they cope with several life-changing events that are never too far off from intimate relationships. The main character is a boy named Kei Kusanagi who suffers from a very rare disease which causes a comatose state referred to as a "standstill" whenever he is under severe emotional distress.Before the beginning of the story, Kei, at 15 years old, had fallen into a "standstill" lasting three years after witnessing the suicide of his elder sister. After recovering, he quietly moved away from home in order to avoid social difficulty due to his long absence, and began living with his uncle, a medical doctor, and aunt. Due to the strange nature of how he came to live there, Kei wanted to keep the situation a secret from his new friends for fear of being ostracized as being too old to associate with them.After Kei had established himself in his new surroundings and had entered into a close group of mutually supportive friends, a Galactic Federation starship had entered Earth's atmosphere stealthily (it is equipped with cloaking technology, rendering it invisible to EM spectrum detection equipment), approached Honshū Island and landed surreptitiously in Lake Kizaki. (Aside from physical travel of the spacecraft via its own engines, travel back and forth across intermediate and long distances - including other star systems and/or dimensions - is accomplished using Star Trek-like 'transporter' technology.) The story begins with Kei, after suffering a minor 'standstill' while in the vicinity of the lake, witnessing several unexplainable phenomena happening there, and then watching as a beautiful half-human alien named Mizuho Kazami materializes beside the shore.Kazami was sent to observe planet Earth by a seemingly benevolent Galactic Federation in order to prevent humans from making developmental mistakes. (Later, it is revealed that she had personal reasons; she wanted to see the home planet of her father, who had died when she was a child.) Kei, upon observing the materialization, attempts to escape the pursuing Kazami (who he does not get a clear look at, as she appears surrounded by bright white light). Kazami is under strict orders to prevent her true identity and mission from being discovered (the penalty for which can include capital punishment). During his attempt to escape, Kei falls into the lake, seeming to drown as a result of another stress-induced 'standstill'. In fact, Kazami rescued Kei and, using information from his identification, was able to return him home after examining him for injuries.The next day begins fairly normally, as Kei awakens at his uncle's home, in his room, under the impression that the previous evening was the product of a dream. Upon arriving at the school, Kei's peers are discussing the fact that the previous homeroom teacher has mysteriously quit his position, and that the beautiful Ms. Kazami has become his new homeroom teacher. Later that day, Kei is further astounded that she is now a next-door neighbor.During assisting her in moving in, he suffers another standstill, and while in a weakened state explains his predicament to the compassionate Mizuho, who cared for him without alerting the authorities, and thus kept his condition a private secret. During his recovery, he recalls the events of the previous evening, realizing that it was not a dream, and that she was the person he saw by the lakeside. Mizuho's inherently honest nature causes her to admit her origins and purpose on Earth. A near tragic comedy of errors ensues, as a frightened Kei attempts to escape her embrace. An accidental activation of the 'transporter' technology almost costs Kei and Mizuho their lives as she rescues him once again. A rapprochement is achieved, as it becomes evident that neither Mizuho nor the Galactic Federation she serves is hostile, and Kei promises not to reveal her identity as Mizuho makes a similar promise about Kei's medical condition. This is the beginning of a friendship that rapidly becomes more intimate.After being discovered in what on the surface would appear to be a compromising situation (Mizuho had wanted to speak with Kei privately and had him transported to a physical education sports equipment locker), Kei protects Mizuho from charges of an inappropriate relationship between student and teacher by supporting the idea impulsively given by his uncle to the school's Headmaster that they are married, resulting in an actual civil marriage that later blossoms into genuine affection for each other. Kei's true calendar age becomes evident during the Headmaster's phone call to City Hall to verify their married status, and the Headmaster relents, partly because he, too, had married a former student younger than himself and can understand their situation personally. Both are allowed to stay so long as they do not reveal their status to the other students, and do not engage in any public displays of affection.The remainder of the series concerns the budding intimate relationships between the close friends, one of whom (Koishi Herikawa) is romantically interested in Kei and another (Ichigo Morino) who he later learns has suffered even greater loss of time from the same disease as he has; the problems of having to maintain the secrecy of the marriage; an interfering parent and sibling visiting from Federation space; and Kei learning to overcome the ever-present threat of another lengthy 'standstill' stealing more of his life, particularly as he has fallen deeply in love with Mizuho and desperately wants to remain with her.